Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood welcomes US talks (AP)

CAIRO – Egypt's powerful Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, said Friday it is willing to hold talks with the United States, taking up an offer of dialogue seen as an implicit recognition by Washington that the group will likely hold significant political power in Egypt's post-Hosni Mubarak era.

The Brotherhood's bid for prominence comes at a time of growing discontent by pro-democracy protesters toward the military council that took power in Egypt after Mubarak's ouster in February.

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters waving Egyptian flags and banners rallied Friday in Tahrir Square, demanding speedy trials for former regime figures and policemen accused of killing protesters during the 18-day revolt that claimed 846 lives.

The demonstration came after clashes broke out earlier this week between police and protesters pushing for faster reforms. More than 1,000 people were injured and more than 30 arrested in the melees.

The Brotherhood has largely stayed clear from the recent protests, denouncing most of them as unfocused and unnecessary.

Brotherhood spokesman Mohammed Ghozlan was responding to comments by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday that the Obama administration is reaching out to the fundamentalist group in a "limited" effort to build ties and promote democratic principles.

"We welcome dialogue with America to remove any misunderstandings and bridge gaps," Ghozlan told The Associated Press.

He said it would be the first time the Brotherhood holds talks with the United States. However, there were reports of indirect and informal contacts between Brotherhood and U.S. officials several years ago_ particularly when the group was represented in Egypt's former parliament.

Neither side gave any indication of when the talks would take place.

The Brotherhood was banned for decades and was heavily suppressed by Mubarak's regime, which was closely allied to the United States. But the ban was lifted after Mubarak's ouster, and the Brotherhood is campaigning hard for upcoming parliamentary elections.

Since it is the country's most organized political force, it is expected to make a strong showing and is very likely to be a member in the next government. Saying the U.S. seeks a real democracy in Egypt, President Barack Obama has acknowledged the Brotherhood should be allowed to operate freely in politics.

In her comments Thursday, Clinton said the outreach to the Brotherhood was part of a general desire in the administration to engage all Egyptian groups as long as they espouse nonviolence.

Ammar Ali Hassan, expert in Islamic groups, said that the Brotherhood will likely try to float "conditions" or "reservations" on any dialogue to avoid a perception that it is allowing the U.S. to meddle in Egypt's internal affairs. But in the end, the talks will give a boost the group, he said, by easing worries some in the Brotherhood and the public have of a backlash if the Brotherhood becomes the dominant player in Egypt.

"Now the Muslim Brotherhood will not have to worry of moving forward toward taking over power," Hassan said. "For decades, the United States has been eying this possibility and ready to open channels with whoever is the leading force in the country," he added.

The Brotherhood has taken a pragmatic stance in the country's new political situation, praising the military rulers and avoiding participation in new protests.

Protesters are calling for faster reforms from the ruling military council, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, which has been accused of collaborating with remnants from the former regime.

"My feeling is that Mubarak has taken off his robe and given it to Tantawi. There is no difference between the two," 62-year-old Ismail al-Husseini said. "We get out of one trap to fall into the next one. Every Friday, we hold a protest but it's no use."

Riot police sealed off the street leading up to the Interior Ministry building, which has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting, with barricades and military police at checkpoints.

Several tents were set up in the middle of Tahrir Square — the epicenter of the 18-day uprising — with many protesters promising to continue their sit-in until their demands are met.

"We had a revolution that is now incomplete. We removed the head of the regime, but the regime is still here," said Yasser Gomaa, 39. He said protesters want to see those responsible for the death of protesters in public, speedy and fair trials.

As a sign of the security problems still facing Egypt's police, a group of armed men besieged a local police station in a low-income suburb east of Cairo, and freed more than 40 detainees, a security official said. Those freed were common criminals, including drug dealers.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the police, said those in the jail started in a fire inside their cell to distract the police, while the gunmen fired in the air to cause mayhem. The head of the police station was briefly held by the gunmen before the escape.

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Obama urges deal on debt ceiling talks

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama called on lawmakers Wednesday to overcome the "selfish" norms of politics and "do their job" in order to strike a deal on raising the federal government's current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by the start of August.

People shouldn't get "spooked," but "the yellow light is flashing," he warned. "This is urgent."

Top economic analysts have warned of potentially catastrophic economic consequences if the ceiling is not raised by August 2, including skyrocketing interest rates and a plummeting U.S. dollar.

The president blasted congressional Republicans for refusing to consider raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans as part of any deal. Congress needs to be willing to "take on their sacred cows and do tough things" while moving away from "maximalist positions," he said.

He said Congress should cancel upcoming summer vacations if a deal isn't struck by the end of the week.

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"I've been here," he said. "Let's get it done."

Obama made his remarks during a wide-ranging news conference covering the state of the economy, the wars in Afghanistan and Libya, and hot-button social issues such as same-sex marriage. It came at a time of rising questions over Obama's ability to maintain control of the political narrative and boost public confidence in his stewardship in the run-up to next year's presidential election.

GOP leaders showed no signs of yielding in their opposition to higher taxes as part of any grand bargain with the White House. Recent bipartisan talks led by Vice President Joe Biden collapsed over the tax disagreement.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, took to the Senate floor before the start of Obama's news conference to declare that Republicans will "refuse to let the taxpayers take the hit when it comes to reducing the debt."

The debate is "about holding Washington accountable for a change," McConnell said. "It's about drawing a line in the sand and saying, no, the taxpayers will not bail out politicians. It's about refusing to subsidize the Democrats' irresponsible spending habits another day."

For his part, the president ripped Republicans for protecting "millionaires and billionaires," oil companies, hedge fund managers, and owners of corporate jets. The wealthy, he said, can afford to pay higher taxes.

"You can still ride on your corporate jet. You're just going to pay a little more," Obama said.

At the same time, the president pushed Congress to act on a series of pending measures to help strengthen the economy faster, including easing the ability of entrepreneurs to get patents, providing loans to private companies for infrastructure development, and approving free trade agreements.

Obama noted that America's economy has gone through a series of major structural changes.

As a result, the country's economic problems are "not going to be solved overnight," he stressed.

Turning his attention overseas, Obama dismissed criticism that his administration failed to obtain clear congressional approval before committing U.S. military forces to the NATO-led campaign in Libya.

Some representatives and senators on both sides of the aisle argue the White House has violated the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which gives a president 60 days to get congressional approval for sending U.S. forces to war, followed by a 30-day extension to end hostilities.

The combined 90-day period ended last week.

Obama insisted that the War Powers Resolution does not apply in the case of Libya.

The law was intended to avoid a repeat of a Vietnam-style war, he said. In contrast, "this operation is limited in time and in scope."

"We have engaged in a limited operation to help a lot of people against one of the worst tyrants in the world," the president said. "A lot of this fuss" over the U.S. intervention in Libya "is politics."

"We have done exactly what I said we would do" in Libya, Obama argued. America's allies "have carried a big load when it comes to these NATO operations" while "we've sent reams of information" to Capitol Hill.

"The noose is tightening" around longtime Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, he asserted.

Obama's argument echoed those made Tuesday by Harold Koh, a top State Department legal adviser, who argued before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the law does not apply to American forces in Libya because the U.S. mission is limited in terms of its scope, means, exposure of forces, and chances of escalation.

In short, administration officials believe the U.S. role in Libya does not meet the law's definition of hostilities.

Obama, however, overruled contrary legal opinions put forward by both the Pentagon and the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in declining to seek congressional authorization, according to the New York Times.

Turning to the debate over same-sex marriage, the president refused to provide new specifics about his personal opinion. He has indicated in the past that his views on the matter are "evolving."

He noted, however, that his administration has stopped defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act against legal challenges.

Obama argued it is up to states to determine if they will legalize same-sex marriage, as New York recently did.

"The president, I've discovered since I've been in office, can't dictate precisely how this process moves," the president said.

The nation is "moving toward greater equality," Obama added. "I think that's a good thing."

CNN

Border shelling overshadows U.S.-Pakistan-Afghan talks (Reuters)

KABUL/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Fighting across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border will overshadow talks when the two countries meet along with the United States on Tuesday to map out plans for reconciliation with the Taliban.

Pakistan on Monday rejected Afghan allegations it had fired 470 rockets into Afghanistan over the past three weeks, saying only that "a few accidental rounds" may have crossed the border when it pursued militants who had attacked its security forces.

But the escalation of fighting on the border between Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun tribal areas and Afghanistan has underscored the difficulties the three countries face in working together to reach a political settlement to the 10-year Afghan war.

"I think the main thing on the agenda this time may be the situation on the border," said Waheed Mujhda, political analyst at the Afghan Analytical and Advisory Center in Kabul.

The meeting, between U.S. envoy Marc Grossman and top diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan, follows President Barack Obama's announcement last week of a faster-than-expected troop withdrawal, accompanied by talks with the Taliban.

"It's a way to coordinate efforts on reconciliation but also a way for Afghanistan and the U.S. to state clearly to the government of Pakistan ... to end the support by Pakistan of safe havens," Grossman told a news conference.

Pakistan blames Afghanistan for giving refuge to militants on its side of the border, particularly in eastern Kunar province, leaving it vulnerable to counter-attack when it chases them out of its own tribal areas.

Top military commanders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States met in Kabul on Monday to review the situation on the border, a Pakistan army statement said.

Generals Ashfaq Kayani, Sher Mohammad Karimi and David Petraeus looked at ways of improving the effectiveness of operations, the statement said.

"Steps for better coordination and enhanced cooperation to avoid misunderstandings as regard to the border security were also discussed," it said.

Pakistan, badly bruised after U.S. forces found and killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad on May 2, is keen to show it has a constructive role to play in helping the United States to bring stability to Afghanistan.

It has long wanted the United States to hold talks with the Taliban to seek a political settlement to the Afghan conflict which it says is fuelling its own domestic Islamist insurgency.

The United States has come some way toward sharing that view, opening its own preliminary talks with the Taliban.

It has also softened its stance on talks by saying its demands that insurgents renounce violence, sever ties with al Qaeda and respect the Afghan constitution are outcomes rather than preconditions for negotiations -- a suggestion made last year by Pakistan.

"Strategically the two countries are on same page," a senior military official said last month. "There are issues on operational and tactical levels."

Karzai has also been pushing for reconciliation with the Taliban and for the first time in the 10-year war, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States all share -- in theory at least -- a commitment to seek a political settlement.

DISTRUST ON ALL SIDES

But deep distrust remains, both between the United States and Pakistan and between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistan has so far been excluded from Washington's early contacts with the Taliban, Grossman told a news conference in Kabul. "Up to now, the government of Pakistan has not been involved in that particular process at all, as yet."

Kabul accuses Pakistan of continuing to support the Afghan Taliban, whom it openly backed when they were in power from 1996 to 2001, to maintain its influence in Afghanistan.

It also says Islamabad is trying to manipulate peace talks to its advantage, to the point of sabotaging them if they do not go in the direction it wants.

"We expect practical steps from Pakistan in the weeks and months ahead to help sustain the peace process," a senior Afghan government official said. "The ball is in Pakistan's court."

With the Taliban talks still at a preliminary stage, and vulnerable to ethnic and regional rivalries which could plunge Afghanistan deeper into civil war as U.S. troops withdraw, the cross-border shelling has added another complication to a fragile situation.

The Afghan government said on Sunday that "it strongly condemned the firing of 470 rockets over the past three weeks from the Pakistan side of the border in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangahar provinces."

President Hamid Karzai expressed his deep concern, it said, and asked Pakistan to immediately stop firing into Afghanistan.

A spokesman for Karzai said on Monday Pakistan's ambassador to Kabul had been summoned over the issue, adding: "We are sure it can be resolved."

Pakistan army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said no rounds had been intentionally fired into Afghanistan.

In the last month, there had been five major attacks from the Afghan side of the border in which 55 men in the Pakistani security forces had been killed and 80 wounded. "The fleeing militants were engaged by the security forces and a few accidental rounds going across cannot be ruled out," he said.

Pakistan says militants, including Pakistani Taliban commanders, have taken refuge on the Afghan side after it launched military operations to drive them out of its Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

It was angered by a U.S. decision to thin out its troops in eastern Afghanistan, including the Korengal valley in Kunar province, when Washington decided to concentrate on population centres in southern Afghanistan, the Taliban heartland.

"For quite some time we have been highlighting that there are safe havens across the border," Abbas said. "Something should be done about these."

Before the killing of bin Laden, the United States had been talking about improving coordination of military operations on both sides of the border so that they could work with, rather than against, each other, in fighting insurgents.

That cooperation may have deteriorated in the breakdown of trust which followed the unilateral U.S. raid to get bin Laden, perhaps explaining the escalation in cross-border shelling.

It is impossible to verify independently exactly what is happening on the remote mountainous border.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider and Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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African Union meets for crucial Libya peace talks

South African President Jacob Zuma (R) chairs an African Union (AU) meeting on Libya in Pretoria on Sunday.NEW: South Africa's president says a U.N. resolution's goal was not "political assassination"Human rights groups want the African Union to prioritize the issue of civilian casualtiesLibya says latest round of NATO strikes have killed civiliansNATO said there is no indication that it did so

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The African Union attempted Sunday to map a road to peace in Libya, despite a previous failed effort to end hostilities between Moammar Gadhafi's forces and rebels seeking to oust the Libyan leader.

The meeting follows claims a day earlier by the Libyan government that NATO warplanes bombed a bakery and a restaurant in a key oil refinery town east of Tripoli, a charge the alliance has countered.

South African President Jacob Zuma said continued bombing by NATO and its allies was a "concern," since protecting the Libyan people was the intention behind a U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force in Libya.

"The intention was not to authorize a campaign for regime change or political assassination," he said in his opening remarks at a meeting of the African Union's special committee on Libya.

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The committee, established in March, convened in Pretoria, South Africa, to discuss avenues to end the months-long fighting that has gripped the nation and left tens of thousands dead.

Ahead of the meeting, human rights activists urged the African Union to prioritize the issue of the plight of civilians caught in armed conflicts, including Libya.

Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have blamed the Gadhafi regime for violations of human rights, including indiscriminate fire on civilians, the use of internationally banned cluster bombs and the torture and executions of captured fighters.

On Sunday, an International Committee of the Red Cross ship arrived in Tripoli from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi with about 100 people on board. It was the second time in a week that the ICRC has reunited friends and families between the the eastern opposition-controlled city and the western regime-controlled city.

Over the past three months, members of the African Union's Special Committee on Libya have met with Gadhafi and opposition leaders. The special committee includes representatives from Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Uganda and South Africa.

Gadhafi has been a strong supporter of the African Union and has channeled large sums of money its way. Libya also holds a seat on the 15-member Peace and Security Council, which is headed by Ramtane Lamamra.

As such, opposition leaders had voiced doubt that any mediation involving that multinational group would end the conflict in a way that would satisfy their goals, which include Gadhafi's ouster.

In April, the African Union attempted to broker peace between Gadhafi and the rebels. In the agreement, the African Union said Gadhafi had agreed in principle to stop all hostilities and allow outside forces to help keep the peace.

The rebels rejected the proposal, saying it did not address whether Gadhafi would step down nor did it provide any solution to the violence against the Libyan people.

The proposal did not address whether Gadhafi would step down, nor was it binding.

NATO began bombing military targets in March after the U.N. Security Council issued a resolution authorizing force by whatever means necessary, with the exception of a ground invasion, to protect civilians.

Libya accused NATO on Saturday of killing civilians in airstrikes, with NATO responding that it struck key command-and-control centers. The alliance said there was "no indication of civilian casualties in connection with these strikes."

Gadhafi's forces have occupied buildings in an abandoned area of al-Brega from where they are launching attacks on civilians, a NATO statement said. The alliance monitored the buildings and said it determined they were clear military targets.

"This continues to show Gadhafi's reprehensible tactics of placing military assets and operations at the heart of civilian neighborhoods," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, NATO commander for the Libya campaign.

"We have meticulously monitored these developments for a significant period and it was time to remove this threat," he said.

Al-Brega is a key oil refinery town about 500 miles east of Tripoli that has been the scene of heavy fighting between pro-Gadhafi forces and rebel fighters.

Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, a spokesman and deputy chairman of the opposition's Transitional National Council, said Gadhafi bears a lot of the responsibility for civilian casualties as the Libyan leader keeps weapons near where people live.

Also Saturday, Libyan state TV said NATO strikes hit Gharyan, a city in the west. The report cited an unnamed military source who said a number of people were killed and wounded in the attack. CNN cannot independently confirm the claim.

CNN's Raja Razek, Yousuf Basil and Ingrid Formanek and journalist David Adams contributed to this report.

CNN

Karzai blasts US, NATO for 'using' Afghanistan, announces Taliban talks (The Christian Science Monitor)

By Tom A. Peter Tom A. Peter – Sun Jun 19, 12:22 pm ET

Kabul, Afghanistan – In what’s become a familiar pattern, Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered a speech on Saturday afternoon blasting the US and NATO for “using our country.”

a€?The nations of the world which are here in our country are here for their own national interests,a€

Since March, he has called on the US and NATO to stop operations here (only to later clarify that he meant operations that result in civilian casualties) and given them a stern ultimatum to stop killing civilians. Shortly after each controversial speech, he usually reaffirms ties with NATO and the US.

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Karzai’s tendency to oscillate between positions at either end of the spectrum has confounded and irked friend and foe alike, leading to speculation among American diplomats that he may be struggling with a mental illness. But some Afghans say that the main problem could be that Afghans leaders – traditionally used to tailoring their messages to navigate shifting allegiances – are just not used to coping with modern, international media that stand ready to expose any contradictory remark.

“Currently some politicians are the same as Karzai, but the media is not focusing so much on small politicians. Karzai is the president and has the most media coverage,” says Babrak Shinwari, a former member of parliament from Nangarhar province. “I would suggest that he use only written speeches and does not deviate from them. When he goes off script, he says anything and that’s why it brings the mistrust of the regional countries and the international community on Karzai.”

Fluid allegiances, competing messagesThroughout history, Afghans have been notorious for working with competing sides and changing allegiances when it becomes clear their rivals are becoming more powerful. For Afghan politicians, this has meant a history of working closely with rivals and communicating sometimes seemingly competing messages to different audiences.

This strategy, however, encounters serious problems when politicians make remarks intended to appeal to a specific audience in the presence of media who broadcast the remarks countrywide and sometimes internationally. Additionally, as the media has grown substantially since the fall of the Taliban, Afghans have become more savvy about leaking select information to journalists.

In this climate, Karzai’s remarks about NATO are likely intended to win support among Afghans, but when disseminated to an international audience they create major problems.

'People are confused' Still, many Afghans say this is no excuse for Karzai’s seemingly erratic remarks.

“Media should be considered a given in today’s world and today’s society," says Daoud Sultanzoy, a former member of parliament from the eastern province of Ghazni. "Leaders have to adjust to that, to the freedom of the media, to the freedom of expression.”

Even among Afghans familiar with leaders who flip flop as political tides turn, Karzai’s behavior is seen as confusing and difficult to read. In a nation where 72 percent of the population is illiterate, many Afghans still follow radio and television news closely and hear the president’s contradictory remarks.

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“People are confused," says Izzatullah Wasifi, Afghanistan’s former anti-corruption chief. "They can’t understand what are his motivations, what are his motives, what is his strategy, and where does he want to take this nation?”

Karzai's increasingly blunt criticism of NATO and US efforts led American Ambassador Karl Eikenberry to issue a rare response Sunday at appearance before students at Herat University.

“When Americans, who are serving in your country at great cost — in terms of life and treasure — hear themselves compared with occupiers, told that they are only here to advance their own interest, and likened to the brutal enemies of the Afghan people," said Mr. Eikenberry, without mentioning Karzai by name, "they are filled with confusion and grow weary of our effort here.”

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Karzai: U.S. in peace talks with Taliban

Afghan president Hamid Karzai says the U.S. is engaged in peace talks with the Taliban.Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells a youth group about the talksU.S. officials could not immediately be reached for commentU.S. Defense Secretary Gates has said reconciliation talks are possible

(CNN) -- The United States is involved in peace talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a youth group in Kabul on Saturday. The speech was broadcast by Afghan state TV.

U.S. officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

At a news conference with Karzai earlier this month, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates talked about making changes in Afghanistan.

"I believe that if we can hold on to the territory that has been recaptured from the Taliban between ourselves and the Afghan forces and perhaps expand that security, that we will be in a position toward the end of this year to perhaps have a successful opening with respect to reconciliation, or at least be in a position where we can say we've turned a corner here in Afghanistan," Gates said, referring to political reconciliation talks.

Gates made the statement during his last visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary. Karzai awarded Gates the Wazir Akbar Khan medal, the highest governmental award.

CNN

6-party government in Finland after lengthy talks (AP)

HELSINKI – Six parties across the political spectrum united Friday to form a government, saving Finland from the embarrassment of having no prime minister at a key European Union summit next week.

Coalition talks had dragged on for weeks, marred by disagreements over economic policy and European bailouts, following an April 17 election that for a while appeared to have catapulted a nationalist party into power.

After a previous attempt failed, a relieved Prime Minister-designate Jyrki Katainen announced that six parties had agreed on the main priorities for a broad-based coalition government.

Katainen's National Coalition Party, which won the election, joined forces with the Social Democrats, the left-wing Left Alliance, the Greens, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats. The coalition, dubbed "the six-pack" by Katainen, will command 126 seats in the 200-seat Parliament.

The True Finns, a nationalist group that opposed bailout packages for debt-ridden European Union nations, scored the biggest gains in the election but were dropped from coalition talks because of disagreements on EU policy.

At the insistence of the small Christian Democrats — with close ties to the country's state Lutheran church — the coalition said it would consider tightening Finland's abortion laws.

Katainen pledged to improve the competitiveness of the Nordic country's economy and boost employment and entrepreneurship by lowering taxes, especially for lower income households. The government would raise some excise taxes and cut spending to balance the budget.

"Finland needs to get back on a growth track," Katainen said at a news conference. "We need ... such economic policies that will boost employment and bring investments to Finland."

Friday's agreement paves the way for Katainen to be formally approved by Parliament next week, so that he can travel to a June 23-24 EU summit as prime minister.

In their program, the coalition parties pledged not to change Finland's EU policies, committing the country to be actively involved in key EU projects also in the future. But in a nod to the euroskeptic sentiment that boosted the True Finns, they promised to also take into account views critical of European integration.

The coalition said it would not grant new permits to build nuclear power plants, dealing a blow to national utility Fortum Oyj, which has expressed interest in increasing its current nuclear capacity.

The conservatives will get six portfolios in the 19-member Cabinet, including the posts of prime minister and foreign trade minister. The Social Democrats will also get six portfolios including finance and foreign affairs.

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Sudan border state foes agree to talks: Mbeki (Reuters)

ADDIS ABABA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The warring parties in Sudan's Southern Kordofan border state have agreed hostilities should cease and that talks should start, former South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.

Fighting between the northern military and southern-aligned armed groups broke out in Southern Kordofan on June 5 and has escalated to include artillery and warplanes. Over 60,000 people are believed to have fled the fighting, the United Nations said.

Both President Barack Obama and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have called for an immediate ceasefire in the north-run oil state, where humanitarian groups fear a mounting death toll.

The south due to become a separate country on July 9 and a raft of issues remain unresolved between the two sides, including where to draw the common boundary.

"Both sides have agreed that there should be a cessation of hostilities, and that negotiations should begin immediately. They've said they will discuss on certain modalities. The details can only be done within those negotiations," Mbeki told reporters in Addis Ababa after visiting Southern Kordofan.

Mbeki, who has been helping guide talks between north and south ahead of secession, said he and other officials would begin planning "full-fledged negotiations" between the Sudanese government and representatives of Southern Kordofan.

He did not give a time frame for when any ceasefire would go into effect. Earlier on Thursday Sudan's army said it would continue fighting against southern-aligned groups in Southern Kordofan to end what it calls an armed rebellion.

"We are continuing our military operations in the mountains around Kadugli up to this moment, until the rebellion stops," northern military spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khaled told reporters in Khartoum.

AIRSPACE CLOSED

The United Nations urged north Sudan's military to open up airspace over Southern Kordofan, saying a six-day closure was endangering its aid operations there.

"The ongoing closure of the airspace in Southern Kordofan by SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) is dangerously hampering our humanitarian operations as thousands of internally displaced persons are in urgent need of emergency assistance," U.N. Mission in Sudan spokesman Kouider Zerrouk said.

"It is vital that the government of Sudan acts immediately to ensure access to all airspace by U.N. flights to alleviate the growing suffering of those most affected by conflict."

The London-based group Save the Children said in a statement 30,000 of the displaced were children "at risk of being separated from their families, traumatized and abused."

Northern spokesman Khaled dismissed charges the army was putting civilians in danger, saying its role was to help them.

Southerners voted to secede in a January referendum that was promised in a deal in 2005 that ended decades of civil war.

Many of the fighters in Southern Kordofan are still referred to as part of the south's army as a legacy of that conflict, though the southern military says they are no longer part of its forces.

Officials in the south's dominant party have said the fighting erupted after the northern army tried to disarm fighters there, while northern officials have accused southern-aligned groups of starting the fighting.

The government in Khartoum stands to lose around a third of its territory and up to three quarters of its oil reserves when Africa's largest country becomes two states, but most of the terminals, pipelines and refineries are in the north.

The northern government's oil minister said earlier that north Sudan have agreed to accept transit fees from the south to export southern oil after July 9 but the two sides had yet to agree a price.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Writing by Alex Dziadosz; editing by Tim Pearce)

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Turkey plans crisis talks as Syrians pour over border

Istanbul (CNN) -- The Turkish prime minister plans to huddle with a special Syrian envoy on Wednesday in an effort help stem the growing tide of refugees racing into Turkey from conflict-wracked Syria.

The number of Syrians who've crossed the border now stands at 8,421, according to Turkey's disaster and emergency management directorate. That flight has been spurred by violence and a military offensive in the conflict-scarred country, and Turkey is worried that the border crisis could deteriorate and destabilize the region.

"It is impossible for us to remain indifferent to the developments there," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters.

"For us, the Syrians are people who have common future and destiny with us. Therefore, it is out of question to close the door to our Syrian brothers or the (refugee numbers) to stop after 10,000. However, when this turns into a big wave, it also has the potential to become a regional and an international matter."

Syrian security personnel have been carrying out a fierce crackdown against anti-government demonstrators over the past three months. Amnesty International says more than 1,100 people have died.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be meeting with the envoy, who is expected to provide an assessment of the refugee situation and the wider political unrest in Syria, an official from Erdogan's office told CNN.

The envoy represents Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the meeting follows a telephone conversation Erdogan and al-Assad had on Tuesday.

Davutoglu, who spoke to journalists at the airport in Ankara before flying to Hatay for a visit with the refugees, said Turkey hopes to initiate reforms that would alleviate the volatile conditions leading to the flight of ordinary citizens. He planned to attend the meeting between Erdogan and the Syrian envoy after his visit to Hatay.

Davutoglu said "escalating violence can increase the refugee wave" and Turkey is working on ways "to prevent escalation of violence."

His government touts a foreign policy dubbed "no problems," a strategy to promote good relations with its neighbors, and the Syrian situation has become a challenge for that policy.

Turkey fears a repeat of the enormous Kurdish refugee exodus from northern Iraq in 1991, and the country has spent the last decade promoting cozy relations and lucrative economic ties with Syria's al-Assad.

Over the last month, Erdogan began calling for reform in Damascus in a bid to curb the escalating violence.

"We hope that Syria changes its attitude towards the civilians to a more tolerant one and realize its steps for reform in a more convincing way for the civilians," Erdogan said last week, according to the semi-official Anatolian Agency.

Davutoglu said that Turkey's "wish and effort is for a process to begin at once that can prevent such a wave to continue increasingly."

He pointed to "reforms to be made as soon as possible, conditions to be eliminated that bring security forces and people against each other and to have a more peaceful approach, beyond focusing on security, in the attitude towards the civilian people. If all these were provided, the refugee wave would lessen."

Of the refugees, 4,368 are children and 73 Syrians are now being treated in Turkish hospitals, the emergency directorate said. More than 1,230 tents have been set up in a number of locations.

Actress Angelina Jolie, a longtime goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, has submitted an application to visit the refugees in Turkey, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal confirmed to CNN by phone. He says the government is "evaluating" the request.

Many displaced Syrians have fled toward the border but have not made it over. CNN's Arwa Damon met with some of them at a makeshift campsite on Tuesday in Syria, and they described terrible conditions at the site and frightening and deadly violence.

Many of the refugees have fled from a region that includes Jisr al-Shugur, seized by the Syrian military over the weekend, a network of human rights activists said.

The Syrian government insists it is stopping "armed terrorist groups" who carried out a "massacre" in the city -- the killing 120 members of the security forces.

Opposition activists say the government's claims are a ruse to justify a crackdown on demonstrators demanding government reform, in keeping with the wave of political protests across the Middle East and North Africa this year.

But Syrian refugees who have fled to Turkey said some Syrian soldiers rebelled after being ordered to fire on unarmed protesters and instead started fighting among themselves.

Syria's Cabinet on Tuesday hailed efforts by the army and security forces to restore calm in the Jisr al-Shugur area and surrounding villages, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

Adnan Mahmoud, the information minister, said the Cabinet urged citizens "who were forced to leave their homes to come back after calm and security were restored in the area," SANA said.

The minister said the Cabinet "assigned the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to contact the Turkish Red Crescent for cooperation to facilitate the Syrian citizens' return to their homes, noting that all necessary needs will be provided to secure the return, including medical aid for the patients and the injured."

CNN

Yemen opposition in talks with VP over transition (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen's political opposition held talks with the country's acting leader on Monday in a bid to defuse months of violent political deadlock over the future of veteran leader President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saleh, forced to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for wounds suffered in an attack on his palace earlier this month, has refused to leave office despite nearly six months of street protests and many diplomatic attempts to remove him.

The ensuing political paralysis and long-standing conflicts with Islamist insurgents, separatists and rebel tribesmen have fanned Western and regional fears of Yemen collapsing into chaos and giving al Qaeda a stronghold alongside oil shipping routes.

A member of a group of opposition parties calling on Saleh to formally step down, who declined to be identified, said the meeting aimed to resurrect a plan by Yemen's oil-rich Gulf neighbors to ease the president out.

"It's to discuss a means to carry out the Gulf initiative and transfer power to the vice president," he said before talks began. A member of that coalition on Sunday said vice president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was refusing to meet with them.

Saleh on three previous occasions backed out of that plan at the last minute. It envisioned him leaving office inside a month, with a guarantee of immunity from prosecution.

Fierce street battles between Saleh's security forces and those of General Ali al-Mohsen al-Ahmar, who abandoned the president in March, engulfed the capital when the most recent bid for an agreed political transition collapsed last month.

A ceasefire has held in Sanaa since Saleh left following the June 3 attack on his palace.

Over 200 people were killed and thousands fled during two weeks of clashes between his loyalists and the forces of tribal leader Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, who also backs the protesters.

Sanaa is now dangerously short of fuel, electricity and water, and violence in a southern province -- whose capital Islamist gunmen seized last month -- has worsened.

DISPLACED SLEEPING IN SCHOOLS

Yemen's army killed 21 al Qaeda members in the southern province of Abyan on Saturday, 18 of them in Zinjibar, the provincial capital that fell. Ten soldiers were killed in fighting there and another city, Lawdar, state media said.

At least four soldiers and several gunmen were killed in running battles in Zinjibar on Sunday. An army officer was killed near the southern port city of Aden when an unidentified assailant threw a grenade at him, a security official said.

Yemen's government, itself paralyzed in the broader political standoff, is struggling to provide medicine and other essentials to people who have fled Zinjibar.

At least 10,000 have taken refuge in Aden, many of them sleeping in schools. The U.N. children's agency UNICEF warned last week that the number of displaced may hit 40,000.

Opposition parties have said they will form their own transitional assembly within a week if Saleh does not cede power. It is not clear whether those parties have any significant influence over many of the protesters.

His opponents have accused him of handing over Zinjibar to Islamists to reinforce his threat that the end of his three-decade rule, as demanded by protesters, would amount to ceding the region to al Qaeda.

Saleh has not been seen in public since the palace attack, which left him with burns and shrapnel wounds. Yemen's ambassador in London said on Saturday that he was recovering and in stable condition.

Saudi medical sources and Yemeni officials said Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Megawar and another cabinet member injured in the palace attack had undergone further surgery and described their condition as "serious."

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Yemen opposition: talks over after Saleh government snub (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) – Talks to resolve Yemen's political crisis have failed after the deputy to wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh refused to speak with groups demanding he cede power immediately, opposition figures said.

Saleh, forced to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for wounds suffered in an attack on his palace nine days ago, has refused to leave office despite nearly six months of street protests and many diplomatic attempts to remove him.

The ensuing political paralysis and long-standing conflicts with Islamist insurgents, separatists and rebel tribesmen, has fanned Western and regional fears of Yemen collapsing into chaos and giving al Qaeda a stronghold alongside oil shipping routes.

A member of the group of opposition parties demanding Saleh transfer power now said international efforts to broker an agreement to that end had collapsed because the acting leader, Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, would not talk to them.

"The American and European efforts for a dialogue between opposition parties and the ruling party has failed. The vice-president has refused to deal with or meet opposition parties," Mohammed al-Mutawakkil said.

"He justifies that by saying he is preoccupied with dealing with the fuel crisis and the ceasefire, as well as the security situation in the provinces."

A ceasefire has held in Sanaa since Saleh left a week ago, after more than 200 people were killed and thousands fled during two weeks of clashes between his loyalists and the forces of tribal leader Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, who backs the protesters.

The capital, however, is all but paralyzed by shortages of fuel and electricity, and violence in a southern province -- whose capital Islamist gunmen seized last month -- has worsened.

POPULATION FLEES CITY AMID FIGHTING

Yemen's army killed 21 al Qaeda members in the southern province of Abyan on Saturday, 18 of them in Zinjibar, the provincial capital that fell. Ten soldiers were killed in fighting there and another city, Lawdar, state media said.

Residents of Zinjibar said fighting continued early on Sunday, leaving at least four soldiers and several gunmen dead.

Yemen's health ministry said it would send 10,000 tones of medical supplies to people who have fled Zinjibar, including some 10,000 in the southern port of Aden.

A Yemeni NGO, Seyaj, called for help evacuating some 500 people trapped in the town due to continued fighting.

Opposition parties have said they will form their own transitional assembly in a week if Saleh does not cede power. It is not clear whether those parties have any significant influence over many of the protesters.

Saleh has three times backed out of plans crafted by oil-rich Gulf neighbors to quit after a transitional period.

His opponents have accused him of handing over Zinjibar to Islamists to reinforce his threat that the end of his three-decade rule, as demanded by protesters, would amount to ceding the region to al Qaeda.

Saleh has not been seen in public since the palace attack, which left him with burns and shrapnel wounds. Yemen's ambassador in London said on Saturday that he was recovering and in a "stable condition".

Saudi medical sources and Yemeni officials said Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Megawar and another cabinet member injured in the palace attack had been taken for more surgery, and described their condition as "serious".

Interfax news agency reported two planes had been dispatched to evacuate Russian nationals who want to leave the country. About 1,000 Russians citizens are in Yemen. (Additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden, Douglas Busvine in Moscow; Writing by Joseph Logan; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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CIA chief in Pakistan for post-raid talks

CIA Director Leon Panetta has been nominated by U.S. President Barack Obama to be the next defense secretary.Panetta meets with Pakistan's top army commander to discuss "future intelligence sharing"Panetta is making his first trip to Pakistan since U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden The trip is to "reiterate U.S. commitment to cooperation with them," an official saysPanetta has said the U.S. relationship with Pakistan is "difficult" but "critical"

Washington (CNN) -- CIA Director Leon Panetta is reaffirming America's commitment to Pakistan during his first trip to the country since Osama bin Laden was killed in a Navy SEAL raid last month, a U.S. official said.

Panetta planned to "reiterate U.S. commitment to cooperation with them (Pakistan) against al Qaeda," said a U.S. official, who is not authorized to speak to the media on the record.

The relationship between the two countries has been in a downward spiral over disputes about how to pursue counter-terrorism efforts.

U.S. officials believe Pakistan is not doing enough to go after al Qaeda and other extremists, while the Pakistanis are upset with what they consider to be unilateral steps taken by the United States within their borders.

The U.S. did not give advance notice to Pakistani officials about the raid on the terror leader's compound in Abbottabad near Islamabad last month.

Panetta, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next defense secretary, said at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday that the U.S. relationship with Pakistan is "difficult" but "critical."

While Pakistan has proven to be a safe haven for extremists, a positive relationship with authorities in Islamabad is vital to the mission in Afghanistan, he said.

Panetta, who arrived Friday in Pakistan, met with Pakistan's top army commander, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, according to Pakistani security forces.

"Both sides discussed the framework for future intelligence sharing," Inter Services Public Relations, the military's official media office said in a statement Friday.

Panetta's trip comes on the heels of visits by other top U.S. officials to the country, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

At the time of her visit two weeks ago, Clinton described her talks in Islamabad as "very extensive, open, frank and constructive."

Clinton said Pakistan has a responsibility to prevent insurgents from waging war in Afghanistan from its territory, but she also extended an olive branch, saying the United States will stand by the Pakistani people "for the long haul."

CNN's Eve Bower contributed to this report.

CNN

Source: Jail time at heart of collapse of plea talks in Edwards case

"I did not break the law. And I never, ever thought I was breaking the law," former Sen. John Edwards told reporters Friday.John Edwards insisted on "minimal" impact on his youngest kids, source saysJustice Department wanted six months' jail time, newspaper reportsEx-candidate indicted on charges of breaking campaign finance laws

Washington (CNN) -- The insistence that former Sen. John Edwards serve some jail time over allegations he broke campaign finance laws caused a collapse in plea negotiations between lawyers for the former presidential candidate and the Justice Department last week.

Edwards wanted to have as "minimal" impact on his two younger kids as possible, a source with knowledge of the talks confirmed to CNN Sunday. Edwards has a 10-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.

The Raleigh News and Observer, which first reported the story, said the Justice Department was insisting that Edwards serve six months in jail if he pleaded guilty.

After initially saying Edwards had to agree to plead guilty to a felony in earlier discussions, CNN is told prosecutors last week offered for him instead to plead guilty to some misdemeanors.

But the jail time was the breaking point.

"He did not want to have an extended period of time away from his kids," said the source, who would not speak on the record because the details of the plea discussions have not been made public.

After the breakdown in negotiations, a grand jury indicted Edwards, a former Democratic vice presidential nominee, on six felony counts.

In court on Friday, Edwards pleaded not guilty.

"I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law. And I never, ever thought I was breaking the law," he told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The News and Observer also reported that Edwards' lawyers were not confident they would be allowed to urge a judge to consider alternatives for incarceration such as a halfway house, weekend passes or home arrest in order to give him more time with his children. After the death of his wife, Elizabeth, Edwards is the primary caregiver for the two younger children.

CNN

Russian envoy in Libya for talks

NEW: Fighting in Misrata area leaves 2 dead, 17 woundedNEW: "We have turned the tide of terror," NATO leader saysSwiss government approves criminal probe against Libya for kidnappings

Misrata, Libya (CNN) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent an envoy to Libya Monday to meet with rebels trying to bring about an end to Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year-rule, a move that comes after he called for the Libyan leader to step down.

Mikhail Margelov, the presidential special envoy on Africa, was expected to meet with leaders of the rebel Transitional National Council based in the eastern Libyan rebel-stronghold of Benghazi, his spokeswoman, Varvara Paal, said.

Margelov did not rule out traveling to Tripoli to meet with Gadhafi, Paal said.

"My task is to meet with rebel leaders. However, I do not rule out that I may have to go to Tripoli, too, if I get the corresponding order from the president," Margelov told Interfax, the Russian news agency.

Last month, Medvedev joined American and other European leaders in calling for Gadhafi to step down from power. The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Gadhafi, his son and Libya's intelligence chief for alleged crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Swiss government authorized the state's attorney general to open a criminal investigation into the kidnappings of two of its citizens, Rachid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, who allegedly have been held hostage in Libya for nearly two years.

The developments came as rebels on the front line in Misrata said the main station supplying electricity to the city, which had been targeted by Gadhafi forces, had been hit. The attack left some areas of the city without power.

According to various rebel fighters, Gadhafi's forces carried out an early morning offensive on both the western and eastern fronts of Misrata.

Government forces pushed 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) into the city of Dafniya on the west side of Misrata and fired dozens of Grad rockets, destroying a plastic factory which killed one person and injured at least one other.

Rebel fighters were able to stop the attacks and pushed toward the west 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) to the outskirts of the city of Zlitan, rebels said.

Two people were killed and 17 others were wounded in the fighting on the western front of Misrata, rebels said.

Libya has been in the throes of a civil war for months, since Gadhafi dug in his heels against popular efforts to force him out of power amid anti-government protests sweeping the Arab world.

NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of any means -- with the exception of foreign occupation -- to protect civilians from attack or the threat of attack. It has been conducting airstrikes targeting Gadhafi's military resources.

Moscow has been a strong critic of the NATO-led mission in Libya, arguing that the scope of the organization's air campaign against Gadhafi's forces far exceeds the civilian protection mandate approved by the U.N. Security Council.

But NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday its mission has "made considerable progress."

"We have turned the tide of terror unleashed by the Gadhafi regime, we have saved countless lives and we have seriously degraded the ability of the Gadhafi regime to attack civilians, and we have relieved the pressure on cities, such as Misrata," he said.

Since NATO first took action just over two months ago, "we have kept up a high operational tempo, with over 10,000 sorties," Rasmussen said. "We have damaged or destroyed almost 1,800 legitimate military targets. That includes around 100 command-and-control sites -- which Gadhafi used to organize attacks on civilians."

Gadhafi "has lost his grip over much of the country," Rasmussen said. But he added that the regime "still poses a threat. Last week, the United Nations commission of inquiry reported that his forces have committed widespread and systematic war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, persecution and sexual abuse.

"It is an appalling catalogue of crimes. And those very same forces are still launching indiscriminate and illegal attacks against cities such as Zintan," Rasmussen said, referring to the shelling of the city in Libya's western mountains, near southern Tunisia.

"That's why we agreed to extend our mission by a further 90 days," Rasmussen said. "We have intensified our military pressure and we are determined to continue our operation for as long as it takes."

CNN's Maxim Tkachenko and Amir Ahmed contributed to this report.

CNN

Yemen fighting intensifies, envoy Brennan in talks (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) – Forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh battled with tribal fighters in Yemen's capital on Thursday in clashes that killed dozens as U.S. envoy John Brennan flew around the region to try to stop a looming civil war.

Street fighting in Sanaa which grew out of protests against Saleh's rule since January has killed at least 135 people in the past 10 days, calling into question the future of an impoverished Arab state already near economic disaster.

Heavy fighting continued late into the night, with witnessing saying security forces had fired live bullets at protesters.

State television showed live pictures of the Yemeni Airways building ablaze and blamed tribesmen for setting it on fire. Al Jazeera television said the fire started after government troops targeted the nearby home of a tribal leader.

Saleh has reneged on a deal brokered by the Gulf Arab states to secure a peaceful end to his nearly 33 years in power. President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser arrived in the region on Wednesday to reinforce the drive to oust him.

Global powers worry that chaos in Yemen, home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and bordering the biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, would raise risks for world oil supplies.

Saleh's special forces were deployed to help "clean up" a ministry held by tribal forces, the Defense Ministry said, as battles near the airport briefly grounded flights.

Abdelqawi al-Qeysi, a spokesman for the Hashed tribal federation said: "The weapons that America gave them to fight terrorism are being used against civilians."

State television showed heavily damaged government buildings which had been taken back by government forces.

The outside world has had little leverage on events in Yemen, where tribal allegiances are the most powerful element in a volatile social fabric, analysts said.

Saudi Arabia, which has strong, longstanding ties with Yemeni tribes, is likely to try to apply another round of pressure on Saleh to step aside to avert disaster in a country of 23 million that is awash with guns.

U.S. envoy John Brennan left Saudi Arabia on Thursday for more talks on Yemen in the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. official in Saudi Arabia said. He will seek the help of the two countries' leaders to pressure Saleh to accept the exit deal.

Late on Thursday, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), whose power transition plan Saleh has refused to sign so far, said it would continue its efforts toward a peaceful solution.

"Abdulattif al-Zayani, the secretary-general of the GCC, confirms ... the GCC (continues) all efforts to help brothers in Yemen to reach a peaceful solution ending the ongoing fighting and to stop the bloodshed," a GCC statement said.

DIVIDED CAPITAL, FRACTURED COUNTRY

Yemen is engulfed in multiple conflicts, with street battles between tribal groups and Saleh's forces in Sanaa, popular unrest across the country and fighting against AQAP and other Islamist militants who seized the coastal city of Zinjibar.

On Thursday, two soldiers were killed in an ambush outside Zinjibar, a local official said, blaming the attack on militants.

One constant factor is Yemen's crippling poverty. Jobs and food are scarce, corruption is rampant and about 40 percent of the population struggles to live on less than $2 a day.

In Sanaa, pro-Saleh forces have been fighting the powerful Hashed tribal confederation led by Sadeq al-Ahmar, with mortars, machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades for nearly two weeks.

The capital is split, with Saleh loyalists holding the south against tribesmen and renegade military units in the north.

Residents said dozens were likely to have been killed in the most recent round of fighting, mostly for control of government buildings and near the compounds of Saleh's tribal foes.

Civilians have been fleeing the city in the thousands, hurriedly packing possessions into their cars.

"It felt as if the artillery shells were flying next to my head ... My wife, my daughter were screaming. It was horrible," resident Sadeq al-Lahbe said before leaving.

"There is no electricity, no water and violent strikes shaking the house. Is this life?"

Security forces raided offices used by the opposition Suhail TV and confiscated equipment, an opposition official said.

The state news agency Saba said several gunmen were arrested at the office, which it said was used to attack nearby areas in the Hasaba district, the scene of intense street clashes.

In Taiz, about 200 km (120 miles) south of Sanaa, Yemeni soldiers fired warning shots at demonstrators protesting against a government they blame for bringing Yemen to the brink of ruin.

Troops later closed off Taiz in an apparent attempt to prevent people from joining planned anti-government demonstrations on Friday, travelers said.

Four elite troops were injured, medical sources said, in an attack officials blamed on the opposition alliance.

The U.N. human rights envoy said this week her office was investigating reports that Yemeni soldiers have killed at least 50 protesters in Taiz since Sunday.

Embassies have closed, diplomats have left and a refugee crisis may develop, with civilians fleeing Zinjibar and other towns. Oman has tightened patrols on its border with Yemen.

"The key risk for the region is either a prolonged stalemate (in Yemen) or a continued deterioration into a power vacuum," said Christian Koch, director of international studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.

"This would accelerate the disintegration of the military institutions, intensify tribal conflicts and divisions, heighten the threat from extremist groups like AQAP by allowing them to spread their influence and possibly plan operations, and spark further separatist tendencies," he said.

(Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden, Khaled al-Mahdi in Taiz, Alister Bull in Washington and Sara Anabtawi, Firouz Sedarat and Nour Merza in Dubai, and Jason Benham in Riyadh; writing by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Alistair Lyon)

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Zuma in Libya for talks as NATO eyes endgame (AFP)

TRIPOLI (AFP) – South Africa President Jacob Zuma arrived in Tripoli on Monday for talks on ending the Libyan conflict as NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Moamer Kadhafi's "reign of terror" was near its end.

Zuma was greeted at the airport by Kadhafi's prime minister, Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, shortly after Libyan state media said NATO-led air strikes on the town of Zliten, west of the rebel-held city of Misrata, killed 11 people.

The South African presidency said Zuma is seeking an immediate ceasefire, to boost humanitarian aid and bring about the reforms needed to eliminate the cause of the conflict which erupted amid anti-regime protests in mid-February.

But it rejected as "misleading" reports the talks would focus on an exit strategy for Kadhafi, saying the visit is part of African Union efforts to end the conflict between his forces and rebels fighting to oust him.

Libyan state television said Zuma was going to discuss the implementation of the AU "roadmap" for peace, as it reported NATO-led raids on the Nafusa mountains in the far west and the town of Bani Walid, near Misrata.

State news agency JANA said that NATO-led planes had hit "civilian and military sites in the Wadi Kaam area of Zliten." "There were 11 people martyred and a number of wounded," the news agency said.

At a meeting of NATO's parliamentary assembly in Bulgaria, the NATO chief insisted: "Kadhafi's reign of terror is coming to an end.

"He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting. ... It is time for Kadhafi to go as well," Rasmussen said.

The NATO chief was upbeat about the results of NATO's military intervention to enforce a UN-backed no-fly zone over the north African country.

"Our operation in Libya, Operation Unified Protector, is achieving its objectives and we are preventing Kadhafi from achieving his," Rasmussen said.

"In just two months we have made significant progress. We have seriously degraded Kadhafi's ability to kill his own people."

In the rebels' eastern stronghold of Benghazi, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, who heads their provisional government, welcomed a call by G8 world powers for Kadhafi to stand down.

"The position taken by the G8 is reflective of the will of the international community as well as the demands and aspirations of the Libyan people," Jalil said.

G8 leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States called on Friday for Kadhafi to step down after more than 40 years in the face of pro-democracy protests turned full-fledged armed revolt.

Russia at the same time finally joined explicit calls for Kadhafi to go.

The Libyan regime responded by saying any initiative to resolve the crisis would have to go through the African Union.

"The G8 is an economic summit. We are not concerned by its decisions," said Tripoli's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaaim.

"We are an African country. Any initiative outside the AU framework will be rejected," he said, confirming Zuma's visit on Monday.

The rebels reiterated they would accept no settlement that did not entail Kadhafi's departure from power.

"We witness how Colonel Kadhafi presents initiatives to fool the world and create the illusion that he is in search of peace," Abdul Jalil said.

"It is with this in mind that we would like to reconfirm that the basis of any consideration for the resolution of the Libyan crisis is the removal of the main reason for this crisis, Colonel Kadhafi."

In a statement on the eve of the visit, Zuma's ruling African National Congress slammed the NATO bombing of Libya.

"We also join the continent and all peace loving people of the world in condemning the continuing aerial bombardments of Libya by Western forces," it said after a two-day meeting of its executive council.

In Geneva, UN rights chief Navi Pillay condemned the brutality of crackdowns on protesters in Libya and Syria, saying the actions were shocking in their disregard for human rights.

"The brutality and magnitude of measures taken by the governments in Libya and now Syria have been particularly shocking in their outright disregard for basic human rights," Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council.

Two French lawyers said they planned to initiate legal proceedings against French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday for crimes against humanity over the NATO-led military campaign in Libya.

A Libyan justice ministry official Ibrahim Boukhzam told reporters in Tripoli that Jacques Verges and Roland Dumas had offered to represent families he said were victims of the NATO bombing campaign.

In its latest operational update, NATO said Monday it struck command and control nodes in Tripoli and the eastern oil town of Brega, and ammunition storage facilities in Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte and Misrata.

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Yahoo says makes headway in Alibaba talks (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc said it had made significant progress in negotiations over compensation for a Chinese online payment company spun off from the Alibaba Group that Yahoo partially owns.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse flew to Asia last week to engage Alibaba and investor Softbank about the issue, though Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz admitted the situation was complex.

"There're a lot of moving parts but we're making progress," Bartz told investors at an annual analysts' meeting on Wednesday. "We're not going to get into a public back and forth."

Investor attention has been squarely focused on Yahoo's Asian assets, which include a 43 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and a 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan Corp. Some investors believe those assets could potentially be worth as much as Yahoo's entire current market value.

Yahoo's stock rose as much as 5.3 percent on Wednesday but later retraced its steps and was up 0.5 percent at $16.22 in early afternoon trading on Nasdaq

Bartz, who joined Yahoo as CEO in 2009, also said the management team was focused on reviving the stalled revenue growth within Yahoo's core business, which includes a vast collection of websites and its Web-based email service.

Yahoo is one of the most popular destinations on the Web and the No. 1 provider of online display ads in the United States, but the company is facing increasing competition from social networking service Facebook and continuing pressure from search leader Google Inc.

"I know it's somewhat very popular to say Yahoo is not turning around. But we have 14,000 people and a management team that's working very, very hard to do just that," Bartz said. "I would insist that you give us some credit for turning this company around," she later added.

Bartz cited the improvements in operating margins and earnings in recent years, as well as in improving the company's Web publishing infrastructure, but said that the company's number one priority was to boost revenue.

"I want to make sure you understand that we're not running this company based on cost. We are running this company for growth," she said.

While a landmark search partnership with Microsoft Corp has failed to deliver the expected lift in ad rates, Bartz reiterated previous comments that revenue-per-search rates will start to rise in 2012.

ALIBABA ASSET TRANSFER

Yahoo's shares have fallen roughly 12 percent since early May, when the company disclosed that Alibaba had transferred its popular online payment subsidiary Alipay to a separate entity controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, potentially diminishing the value of Yahoo's stake in Alibaba.

Alibaba said the transfer was done in order to meet Chinese regulations regarding foreign ownership of online payment companies.

Bartz spent the first 45 minutes of Yahoo's analyst day flanked by Morse and Yang addressing Alipay and fielding questions from analysts.

The CEO, feeling the pressure from complaints that Yahoo was too slow in announcing the asset transfer, said its disclosure was "timely and appropriate."

The trio of executives repeatedly stressed that all parties in the negotiations were agreed on basic principles, particularly to ensure that Alipay continue to be a driving force behind auctions site Taobao -- Alibaba's key strategic asset -- and that the payments system be among the first to win an operating license from the Chinese government.

Bartz also said all were agreed that the Alibaba Group -- and hence Yahoo -- receive adequate "compensation" for Alipay.

"Alipay needs a license to be worth anything," Yang said.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic and Edwin Chan; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Tim Dobbyn and Bernard Orr)

Yahoo! News

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Deficit-reduction talks sidestep Medicare, taxes

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans agreed Thursday to focus initially on areas of potential compromise — rather than overhauling Medicare or raising taxes — as they seek to reduce a $1.4 trillion budget deficit and slow the growth of the $14.3 trillion national debt.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor looks on as Vice President Joe Biden meets with congressional Republicans and Democrats in hopes of striking a deal on deficit reduction Thursday.

Both sides came away from a meeting led by Vice President Biden encouraged that common ground exists in the areas of less controversial spending cuts and rules to lock in savings. "We made progress," Biden said.

They will meet again Tuesday, when the specific subject on the table will be potential areas of agreement. That's in contrast to the rhetoric of the past month, when President Obama lashed out at Republicans' plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program and Republicans belittled Obama's plan as cutting too little and raising taxes too much.

"I think today's meeting really was in contrast to the rhetoric that we've heard before," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. "Without attacking anyone's plan, we're looking to find areas on which we agree."

House Budget Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., echoed that sentiment. "Everybody is trying to reach a serious, credible agreement," he said.

Biden and the six lawmakers representing House and Senate leaders face two deadlines:

•The nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit will be reached this month, and extraordinary measures by the Treasury Department will avoid a government default before early August.

Republicans say they won't allow more borrowing without action on the deficit — spending caps and additional cuts.

•Any further effort to control the nation's long-term debt will have to be done before Congress adjourns this year, because neither side expects action during the 2012 election year.

Republicans have said they don't expect quick action on their Medicare overhaul. That was made clear Thursday when 50 Democratic senators wrote Obama in opposition to the Medicare plan, guaranteeing it won't pass the Senate.

"The reality is this president has excoriated our budget plan and the Medicare proposal in the plan," Cantor said.

In turn, Republicans say, Democrats should stop trying to raise taxes. Obama's plan calls for raising tax rates on upper-income Americans and eliminating tax breaks enjoyed by powerful industries.

"Nothing is off the table except for raising taxes," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

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Deficit reduction talks face roadblocks

WASHINGTON — The White House seeks to jump-start budget talks today amid signs that bipartisan efforts to save trillions of dollars have stalled over the two toughest issues: taxes and entitlement programs.

Gang of Six leaders, Sens. Saxby Chambliss, left, and Mark Warner, right, hope to spur bipartisan action on deficit negotiations.

By Bob Brown, AP

Gang of Six leaders, Sens. Saxby Chambliss, left, and Mark Warner, right, hope to spur bipartisan action on deficit negotiations.

A new round of negotiations headed by Vice President Biden will begin at Blair House, across from the White House, even as Democrats and Republicans in the Senate struggle to nail down a plan that could have bipartisan appeal.

Those ongoing talks have the best chance of attracting the broad support that President Obama and House Republicans lack for their separate approaches. But the "Gang of Six" senators have not been able to agree on tax increases sought by Democrats or entitlement cuts favored by Republicans.

Enter Biden and six different Democratic and Republican lawmakers, all members of their respective party's leadership teams. The negotiations, proposed by Obama last month, are intended to bridge differences between the parties over spending cuts and tax increases.

"This is the beginning of an important process," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday. "This creates the potential for a bipartisan compromise on some of this, at least. We expect progress to be made."

How much progress is an open question. Both parties have agreed to seek about $4 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 to 12 years. Republicans led by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin want major changes in Medicare and Medicaid. Obama and congressional Democrats favor a mix of lesser spending cuts and tax increases on upper-income Americans.

As the clock tickstoward a possible default in early August unless Congress raises the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, some lawmakers are reducing expectations. Ryan said Wednesday that any agreement likely will represent "a single or a double," not "a grand slam."

A senior administration official involved in the upcoming talks said they will focus initially on areas of common ground. That could mean more spending cuts of the type negotiated last month to avoid a government shutdown, as well as strict rules to lock in future reductions.

The official, who asked not to be named because the budget talks have yet to begin, called any package designed to slash the government's $1.4 trillion deficit a difficult vote for lawmakers.

Since Obama's fiscal commission in December recommended cutting spending and eliminating tax breaks as a way to trim nearly $4 trillion from the next decade's deficits, attention has focused on three other deficit-reduction plans:

•Ryan united most Republicans last month around his 10-year, $4.4 trillion plan. It includes a dramatic overhaul of Medicare starting a decade from now, when the government would provide only a set amount of money and seniors would pay the rest.

•Obama proposed a 12-year, $4 trillion plan later in the month. Far less specific than the Ryan document, it would require roughly $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases, achieved by eliminating tax breaks.

•The third plan has yet to emerge. The Senate Gang of Six, headed by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., has met for months in hopes of producing a plan that can pass the Senate, where both parties possess veto power.

"The more proposals to consider, the better," says Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., one of the lawmakers who will join Biden at the negotiating table today. "At the end of the day, you've got to bridge the divide."

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Jimmy Carter in S. Korea to revive talks

Former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter waves as he arrives for a press conference in Beijing on Monday.The Elders will hold a news conference on ThursdayTensions between North Korea and the West have spiked in recent years South Korea accuses the North of torpedoing and sinking its warship

(CNN) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and three other ex-leaders will arrive in Seoul on Thursday on the third leg of a trip that hopes to restart long-stalled talks between North and South Korea.

The visit will come after two days of meetings with North Korean officials.

Carter and the group known as "The Elders" -- former presidents Martti Ahtisaari of Finland and Mary Robinson of Ireland, and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland -- will hold a news conference to talk about what they have learned during their visits to China, and North and South Korea, a statement from the group said.

The Elders is an independent group of global leaders founded by former South African President Nelson Mandela.

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While in China, the group met with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, and a Chinese expert on North Korea's nuclear situation.

Currently in North Korea, the Elders expect to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, along with other senior officials and diplomats. Carter said they went to Pyongyang at the invitation of the North Korean government.

The group will meet with South Korean officials on Thursday.

Tensions between North Korea and the West have spiked in recent years due in part to concerns over Pyongyang's nuclear development program.

The United States and South Korea held joint military drills in February, despite North Korea's warning to the South not to carry out the drills, calling them a provocation.

South Korea accuses the North of torpedoing and sinking one of its warships in March 2010, killing 46 sailors. In November, North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians.

Carter has a long history of dealing with North Korea. His 1994 talks with the late Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il's father, paved the way for the "Agreed Framework" the same year -- an agreement designed to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

CNN

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